Alcatel Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.

Ronald De Man

Arie Johannes De Heer

Ronald Van Haalen

Gert H Manhoudt

Erik Tromp

A method and apparatus for adapting the switching process of a bridge to partition the bridge ports into a plurality of port subsets such that the bridge operates on each of the port subsets in an independent manner.

Methods and apparatus for realizing a configurable multi-bridge

A method of reconfiguring a ring network having a plurality of nodes connected by a plurality of links, comprising initiating reconfiguring of one of the nodes in response to a network change message received over a link connected thereto from an adjacent node, blocking said link by the one node, reconfiguring network information stored on the one node, flushing any old queued messages on said one node and, in response to completion of said flushing, sending a reconfigured message to the other node adjacent thereto, and de-blocking said link by the one node in response to receipt of a reconfigured message from the first-mentioned adjacent node.

Method for reconfiguring a ring network, a network node, and a computer program product

Method and apparatus for rebooting a bridge in a network containing a plurality of bridges. The method includes sending notification to other bridges that the bridge will be updated; updating the bridge; restoring a state of the network prior to the bridge being updated; and sending notification to the other bridges in the network that the update is complete. Sending notification includes sending a special bridge protocol data unit along forwarding links connected to the bridge. The method further includes the other bridges initiating a condition of not expecting additional messages from the bridge subsequent to the notification of the update and disabling a part of the bridge prior to updating. An apparatus includes a forwarding plane adapted to provide physical control of ports in the bridge and a control plane adapted for issuing and executing instructions in accordance with the method that control the physical action of the ports.

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Den Haag, Netherlands

Ronald De Man